George the Dragon

Tomorrow being St. George's day, what should we think of the allegations in the Telegraph? Well George denies this, he would and has threatened libel action. We'll see how far this one gets. Michael Foot, who was as guilty as hell of giving information to the Soviets in return for funding his pet project (Tribune) won substantial libel damages. I do doubt, however, that George Galloway will cut nearly as sympathetic figure in court as Foot did. However for more detail go to Harry's Place, who has a couple of good summaries.

The first thing is that this should send a message to the anti-war movement. The campaign had an attitude of no enemies to the left, which meant that very dodgy Trotskyite groupsucles and Islamic radicals were allowed to attach themselves to the campaign while no effort was made to reach out to Tories. The fact that it was Galloway and not someone else who may have been the conduit for Iraqi money is surprising, it could have been any dodgy group that the anti war campaign embraced.

There is also a further point on foreign funding of British politicians. Of course the cases of Michael Foot (Russia) and Edward Heath (China, and possibly Iraq) are fairly well known. But are we missing the point? Are politicians being bought by Europe and America.

America

How many of the Tory front bench went to America, how often and who paid for it? How many times since becoming an MP did Iain Duncan Smith go to America? Who paid for this? How were the think tanks that paid for this paid for themselves.

Have any of the main political Parties, or their youth or international wings, taken funding from the The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) or the National Republican Institute for International Affairs (NRI) - both funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, itself funded by the American taxpayer? What risks were assessed as to possible conflicts of interest, and what action was taken to minimise those risks?

Which MPs, MPs researchers or party official seconded for American policy institutes? Which ones and how long for?

South Africa

Will the government release the security records for Peter Hain, and explain what investigations were taken as to his alleged links with South African intelligence services? How close are Labour links with the South African ANC, and are they seen to be at all problematic to our actions in Africa?

Europe

How many former senior civil servants are working for European Union funded institutions? Senior MPs? Is their an open, central record for EU funding to British political groups?